Ang Lee

Filmmaker

Born: 23 October 1954

Birthplace: Pingtung, Taiwan

Best known as:

Oscar-winning director of Brokeback Mountain

Name at birth: Li An

Ang Lee has directed a remarkably diverse series of films, including the clash-of-cultures comedy The Wedding Banquet (1993), the Jane Austen period romance Sense and Sensibility (1995), the 1970s suburban drama The Ice Storm (1997), and the martial arts epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). The latter film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including best director and best film. Sense and Sensibility was also nominated for best picture of 1995, and The Wedding Banquet was nominated as best foreign picture of 1993. Born in Taiwan, Lee attended college at the University of Illinois and film school at New York University. In 2003 he released the blockbuster comic book film Hulk (starring Eric Bana and Nick Nolte), then followed with Brokeback Mountain, the 2005 film based on Annie Proulx's short story. Though Hulk was a dud, Brokeback was a hit and earned 8 Oscar nominations, and Lee won as best director (both stars of the film, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, were nominated but did not win). Again Lee changed course and directed the Chinese-language tale of forbidden sex, Lust, Caution (2007), followed by the nostalgic comedy Taking Woodstock (2009, starring Emile Hirsch). Lee again won a best director Oscar in 2013, for his 2012 film Life of Pi.